These nuns were accused of stealing half a mil from a catholic school to go gambling in Vegas

Headlines
14/12/2018

If you thought you were sinning this festive season, you've got nothing on these nuns. Working at a catholic school in Southern California, two nuns are now under investigation for stealing around $500,000 USD to gamble in Las Vegas.

The local news station reported that over the course of several years, the two nuns, Sister Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang, set funds aside for St. James Catholic School to spend on a variety of personal costs. According to a letter written by Monsignor Michael Meyers to parishioners, they used a lot of the money to fly to Vegas and gamble.

Sister Mary Margaret had worked at the school for 28 years as it's principal, retiring in June, where during her retirement audit the church discovered cheques were being cashed into questionable accounts. The cheques amounted to about half a million bucks.

Eighth grade teacher Sister Chang was the accomplice, also retiring earlier this year after 20 years.

“Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers. They and their Order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school," Meyers wrote in the letter.

The church is deciding not to press charges, wanting to handle the sisters "internally through the investigation, restitution, and sanctions on the sisters". We don't know what sounds worse tbh.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet are also working to replace the funds taken from the school and create new methods to prevent dubious nuns from stealing in the future.

“I want to assure you that the investigation has disclosed that, notwithstanding this misappropriation, no student or program at St. James has suffered any loss of educational resources, opportunities, or innovations. We have initiated additional procedures and oversight policies for financial management and reporting responsibilities," Meyers letter reads.